Lomachenko makes Walters quit-Boxing Challenge

The anticipated bout between Vasyl Lomachenko and Nicholas Walters turned out to be boxing's version of a non-conference cupcake as Lomachenko won every round and made Walters quit at the end of the seventh round.

Lomachenko simply was too much for what was considered to be an elite level fighter and completely discouraged him to the point that Walters meekly surrendered in the corner without a fight.

Lomachenko is arguably the most talented fighter in the sport and appears to be head and shoulders above any fighter from 126-135 pounds.
As far as Walters goes,his timid performance came with a ridiculous excuse that blamed his evening on everyone from his promoter (Top Rank) to the network (HBO) to all of the above for "inactivity".even though most of that was his doing in negotiating for this bout.
I would suspect Walters has plenty of rehab work to do in many eyes and in the eyes of boxing fans,will always be damaged goods....

Ramon Malpica and I each added one point in the boxing challenge for the Lomachenko win,while I added two to Ramon's one for Terry Flanagan's stoppage in round eight of Orlando Cruz to retain Flanagan's WBO lightweight title.
Flanagan is rumored for perhaps an opponent for Lomachenko in the United Kingdom in 2017.
The challenge is currently 133-109.

Don't forget to listen to Fight Heads tomorrow night for more boxing talk on these fights and other issues..

Boxing Challenge-Wilder struggles past Molina

A less than explosive night in boxing covered two networks and the boxing challenge on Saturday night as we discovered more questions than answers.

On Showtime,Deontay Wilder was expected to crush Eric Molina early in front of a excited home crowd in Birmingham,Alabama in the first defense of his WBC heavyweight title in boxing's version of a pro wrestling squash match.
Instead,Wilder struggled at times and was rocked in the third round against a fighter that really was not deserving of a title opportunity before stopping Molina in round nine.
Wilder did floor Molina three times,but looked like more Michael Grant than Lennox Lewis and I have a feeling that his chin might not hold up in the long haul.
Wilder will next face Alexander Povetkin in a mandatory defense and should be severely tested.
Povetkin is the second best heavyweight in the world and his right hand could be the litmus test for the chin of Wilder that I question...

Jose Pedraza won the IBF Jr.Lightweight title with a unanimous decision over Andrey Klimov and looked pretty impressive doing it.
Pedraza ripped Klimov to the body and threw a lot of punches.
I'd be interesting in seeing more of Pedraza soon....

In New York on HBO,featherweight Nicholas Walters dropped his WBA title on the scales when he failed to make weight and that advantage helped Walters use his size for a unanimous decision over Miguel Marriaga.
Walters scored a ninth round knockdown in a bout that looked to be a good one on paper turned out to be a bout that lacked fireworks.
Walters was expected to face Vasyl Lomachenko in his next bout,but that is possibly on ice with the questions with Walters being unable to make 126.

Felix Verdejo scored an unanimous decision over brave Ivan Najera with knockdowns in rounds five and seven.
Verdejo injured his left hand,yet dominated the undefeated Najera,who never quit trying,but was in a different class from Puerto Rico's Verdejo,who looks to be a star in the near future..

In the boxing challenge,R.L.Malpica and I each earned six points on the evening.
Two each for the Wilder and Pedraza wins and one each for the Verdejo and Walters victories.
I hold my lead in the challenge at 73-72.

I plan on being in Harrisburg today for the Trenton Thunder,but hope to be back for game five of the NBA finals.
If I would stay home,I'll be doing either an On the signing front from the latest autograph news or a Cleaning out the inbox from the non-sports world.
Either way,I'll get those knocked out early  next week!

Golovkin drills Rubio,Walters stuns Donaire and Boxing Challenge

The boxing challenge continues in Carson California with bouts for the WBA Featherweight title and the WBA Middleweight belt along with the WBC "Interim" 160 pound title on the line...

Let's start with Gennady Golovkin,who walked through Marco Antonio Rubio in two rounds.
Golovkin destroyed Rubio like no one ever had. Rubio had been a mainstay of the lower half of the top ten/fifteen of the middleweight division for years.
Rubio had failed every time that he had challenged the elite fighters of the division having been stopped in ten by Kelly Pavlik and went the twelve round distance with Julio Cesar Chavez Jr in two previous title attempts before winning one of those silly interim titles (more on that soon) against lighter competition.

In any event,Rubio lasted less than two against Golovkin,who crushed Rubio with a right hand,left uppercut and then another right hand that sent Rubio crashing to the mat.
Rubio managed to get up a hair before the ten count,but in one of those "I'm going to make it look good and protest,but I really want to pack this in" looks and the bout was stopped.

Golovkin kept his WBA middleweight title the day when Rubio couldn't make weight and Rubio vacated his WBC interim belt on the scales,but Golovkin could win that title with a win,which was easy enough.
Why is that significant?
Well,now that Golovkin has the WBC interim belt,the last line of defense for Miguel Cotto (WBC and Lineal Champ) or Canelo Alvarez (Should he defeat Cotto next year) is eliminated as sooner or later "GGG" will get his chance against one of them or they will finally be clearly exposed as ducking Golovkin rather than passing it away as for financial or promotional reasons.
Who said interim titles were all bad? I think it was me....
Golovkin is so feared that getting that interim belt may finally be his avenue to a big fight.
Andre Ward talks a good game about fighting him,but has fought just twice in three years,has promotional issues and seems less than thrilled to fight again,which considering his less than scintillating style doesn't disappoint me much.
Cotto and Alvarez are going to fight each other first for a huge payday before taking the chance of Golovkin,the unrecognized (by me) WBO title fight winner of Matt Korobov vs Andy Lee might be a target to collect another belt,but the winner isn't going to be anxious to take on GGG and then you have the AAA Al Haymon portion of the division with IBF champ Jermain Taylor,Peter Qullin and Danny Jacobs,which wants zero part of Golovkin.
Set em up and Gennady Golovkin knocks them all down-just as the game should be.

The other HBO bout saw Nonito Donaire's run finally finished as Donaire lost his WBA 126 pound title to the "regular" WBA champ Nicholas Walters.
Only in boxing can one organization have three champions in a division and one day I'll try to explain this garbage to you,but occasionally as noted above they can be a good thing accidentally.
The fight was an exciting one and well worth the watch,but what I had suspected over the last year or two finally came to pass-Nonito Donaire did not have the fire that he used to have and Nicholas Walters did.
In an exciting firefight,Walters finished Donaire in the sixth as Donaire groggily rose but was in no condition to continue.
Walters is tall for the division and has great power and a bout against Vasyl Lomachenko looks to be next on the horizon for Top Rank,who promotes both fighters.
That looks to be another good one and will continue to consolidate the featherweight division.
The bonus for this one was the extreme good sportsmanship by both fighters after the bout.
That show of respect is what our sport should be about.

In the boxing challenge,I got a point closer to R.L. Malpica as I picked Walters to win for a point,while R.L selected Donaire.
We both added two points for Golovkin's KO of Rubio and the current standings sit with R.L leading 61-59